This is a detailed description of the FLAC format. There is also a companion document that describes <AHREF="ogg_mapping.html">FLAC-to-Ogg mapping</A>.
</P>
<P>
First, as the original developer I have to say that I am not a compression expert and I feel obligated to give credit where it is due. FLAC owes a lot to the many people who have advanced the audio compression field so freely. For instance:
</P>
<P>
<UL>
<LI>
<AHREF="http://svr-www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~ajr/">A. J. Robinson</A> for his work on <AHREF="http://www-svr.eng.cam.ac.uk/reports/abstracts/robinson_tr156.html">Shorten</A>; his paper is a good starting point on some of the basic methods used by FLAC. FLAC expands on the fixed predictors used in shorten.
</LI>
<LI>
<AHREF="http://commsci.usc.edu/faculty/golomb.html">S. W. Golomb</A> and Robert F. Rice; their universal codes are used by FLAC's entropy coder.
</LI>
<LI>
N. Levinson and J. Durbin; the reference encoder uses an algorithm developed and refined by them for determining the LPC coefficients from the autocorrelation coefficients.
</LI>
<LI>
And of course, <AHREF="http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/shannon.html">Claude Shannon</A>
</LI>
</UL>
</P>
<P>
<ANAME="toc"><FONTSIZE="+1"><B><U>Table of Contents</U></B></FONT></A>
FLAC owes much to the many people who have advanced the audio compression field so freely. For instance:
</P>
<P>
<UL>
<LI>
<AHREF="http://svr-www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~ajr/">A. J. Robinson</A> for his work on <AHREF="http://www-svr.eng.cam.ac.uk/reports/abstracts/robinson_tr156.html">Shorten</A>; his paper is a good starting point on some of the basic methods used by FLAC. FLAC trivially extends and improves the fixed predictors, LPC coefficient quantization, and Rice coding used in Shorten.
</LI>
<LI>
<AHREF="http://commsci.usc.edu/faculty/golomb.html">S. W. Golomb</A> and Robert F. Rice; their universal codes are used by FLAC's entropy coder.
</LI>
<LI>
N. Levinson and J. Durbin; the reference encoder uses an algorithm developed and refined by them for determining the LPC coefficients from the autocorrelation coefficients.
</LI>
<LI>
And of course, <AHREF="http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/shannon.html">Claude Shannon</A>